Our Story

High Achievers®

Our Story

High Achievers® was founded in 1998 by Jeff Liesener and Tom Gundrum as High Achievers Network®. Their vision, to break the mold of the traditional all-day seminar, was realized by introducing four to six half-day events annually with top trainers and success coaches in and out of the country. The Arizona based company expanded to California and Texas and became a leader in training and development for individuals and organizations. Some of the most trusted authorities in training and development took our stage. These included Dr. Denis Waitley, Dr. Ivan Misner, Nido Qubein, Peter Montoya, Glenna Salsbury, Les Brown, Dan Lier, Scott McKain, and the late great Jim Rohn.

Doug Grady came on board in 2002, answering the call of his good friend, Tom Gundrum, who had brought him into the industry several years earlier. Doug helped expand the company and worked his way into an equity position. When the economy began to turn in 2006, Doug was given an opportunity to buy the company. Doug chose to return to Atlanta in hopes of rebuilding the company in his previous home city.

In 2012 Doug met David Alexander, Executive Director for BNI Southeast and President of Referrals4life Training. During a three-hour trail run on a Monday morning, they discovered what would be the mission for a newly merged company. This mission leads us to build communities of people who love, support and grow each other personally and professionally. After this run, Doug and David sat down at a picnic table and carved out what would eventually become the merger of their two training companies, High Achievers Network® and Referrals4life Training, rebranded as High Achievers®. David and Doug ran High Achievers® until 2010 and had a fantastic journey together. The company expanded its programs, launched internationally and continued to be a leader in the personal development industry.

High Achievers® – Where we are now

David is now the president and CEO of High Achievers®. His vision is to help entrepreneurs embrace a lifestyle of achievement and truly discover what achievement means to them. Check out David’s Bio. Under David’s leadership, High Achievers® has become a leading Business Coaching company. focused on the success of small business owners around the globe. We have launched a cloud-based coaching platform called My Achievement Dashboard™, build a successful mastermind program called Catalyst Groups™ and launched a very innovative business coaching program called Nexpert Coaching™. All our programs are designed to help small business owners build the business of their dreams for an extremely competitive price.

We believe in the power of mentors, coaches, networks, training, and communities.

We believe in professional growth through personal growth.

We believe in the power of the human spirit.

We believe in Action Based Experiential Learning.

Jeff Liesener is now COO of Clever Investor in Arizona, and Tom Gundrum is a management consultant and international corporate trainer. Doug Grady is a popular speaker and author. Doug remains on our faculty. Several other former High Achievers Network® team members are creating a significant impact on the training and development industry. They include David Behr of Edge Seminars, Erik Swanson of Universal Seminars and Habitude Warrior, and “Mr. Charge Higher Prices” Scott Sorrell.

We are leading the industry by helping our members truly embrace high achievement. We are building communities of people who love, support and grow each other. Our members will be engaged in communities where they will interact with each other, our faculty and stakeholders of High Achievers® to build accountability to achieve their goals.

Philosophy Statement

We inspire People, ignite Passion create Profit, make a Social Impact

Value Statement

We are a leading training and development company focused on creating value for our members, friends, team members and stakeholders. This is accomplished globally through teamwork, understanding, persistence, discipline and effective communication.

Mission Statement

We provide the environment, mindset, and skill set to allow our entrepreneurial members to create success through maximizing personal potential. This is achieved globally through the application of action based experiential learning “ABEL™” and by being a part of our community.

Vision Statement

Our members and our teams embracing a lifestyle of High Achievement.

Core Values

Lead and Learn, Open to Opportunities, Vision and Value, Excellence and Execution

Being a small business owner can be a lonely journey. Too often, when entrepreneurs have to make important decisions which will have a significant impact on their business, on their personal lives, and on the lives of their employees, they find that the only person...

Exciting news! Over the past few months, the team and I have been working on a new direction for High Achievers®. In this new direction, we have further defined our core values which reflect our passion. Our core values are our building blocks: Lead and Learn Open...